Meet the Founding Dirtbags, Taz & Brad

dirt-bag [ˈdərtbæɡ]

Noun: A person who is committed to a given lifestyle to the point of abandoning societal norms in order to pursue said lifestyle.

ie:

Climber A: “Those dudes said they spent 200 days climbing last year. They must be full of it.”

Climber B: “No bruh, those guys are most definitely dirtbags”

Taz and Brad met 13 years ago as busboys at their local Spaghetti Factory in Vancouver, Canada. They had a “did we just become best friends” moment after they spent an entire shift discussing business ideas and ways to make the big bucks as 15 year olds. Fast forward 13 years with a couple of successful and failed businesses under their belt, they feel they have finally hit the jackpot with Boulder Denim which allows them to pursue their passion for climbing while building a brand that fits perfectly into their lifestyle.

Boulder Denim started as a frustration that Taz and Brad had when they couldn’t find a pair of pants to climb in that was both functional and stylish. When they first started climbing, Taz wore gym shorts and Brad wore expensive and delicate yoga pants. Taz often had scuffs and bruises on his legs and Brad was spending hundreds on new pants on a monthly basis. They didn’t want to wear either option out afterwards either.

They tried climbing pants. They were in no way stylish. They tried stretchy jeans. They weren’t stretchy enough and bagged out one or two whole sizes. After searching endlessly for that perfect pair, they decided to hit the drawing board.

After a year of research and development, they chose to work with a denim manufacturer right here in Canada to develop the perfect stretch denim for climbing. In November of 2015, they launched a Kickstarter campaign with a $15,000 goal and ended up raising over $90,000. What was once a project to selfishly fund a pair of dream pants for themselves, turned into a full-fledged business. They surveyed their customers and to their astonishment, only 30% of their backers bought the jeans to climb in. As it turns out, everyone wants a comfortable and functional pair of jeans.

Since they started climbing back in 2014 it has been a dream of theirs to travel across the continent, climb, and live as true dirtbags. This dream has finally become a reality. Taz and Brad have spent early 2017 renovating a vintage 1975 Airstream into a mobile pop-up shop which will be towed by a Mercedes Sprinter camper van. The Vancouverites will be touring across North America for the next few years on an old-school branding and sales tour while climbing at the best crags and gyms. Find out where they are in real-time on their tour here